Tragic accident claims the life of an 88 year old

Wed Jun 29, 2011 2:43 pm

Niles farmer dies when tractor rolls down hill

An 88-year-old man was killed Monday afternoon when his tractor rolled down a 30-foot embankment in front of his Old Salt Road farm in the town of Niles, the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office said.Deputies said August Komoroski was attempting to turn his Farmall tractor with a sickle-arm mower at the top of the embankment when the tractor rolled down the hill toward the road, pinning him underneath.The accident happened in front of Komoroski’s farm at 4455 Old Salt Road, deputies said.

The accident was reported by a neighbor at 1:58 p.m., but authorities do no know how long Komoroski was pinned underneath the vehicle before that time, deputies said.New Hope Fire Chief Dennis Bell, who responded to the scene and is also one of Komoroski’s neighbors, said Komoroski rents out most of his farm land now, but said he remembered the land was also used for crops when he was a child.Komoroski also used to transport dairy cattle for local farmers.

“I knew him as a kid,” Bell said. “My father worked for his brother. I knew him casually, he was a pretty easy going guy.”

Although these involved larger tractors, we must remember that a Cub weighs six to eight times more than most of us.

Re: Tragic accident claims the life of an 88 year old

Wed Jun 29, 2011 8:55 pm

It just shows you can't let your guard down for even a second.

Re: Tragic accident claims the life of an 88 year old

Wed Jun 29, 2011 9:01 pm

I was just reading the updates and found that these two stories are now one in the same. The other station has added that there were two kids on the tractor and it was the same road as the other story with a car passing. Evidently each station was reporting the same story but neither had all the info.